One of the questions that I’ve heard from people interested in A Bigger Voice is, "How can I influence public  policy?"

This is an interesting question. I think it requires BOTH top-down (interacting with individuals at the top of an organization or institution) and bottom-up (interacting with the users/consumers/customers) approaches. The mistake I see people make is thinking only about the top-down approach (e.g., hiring a lobbyist.)

Two contrasting examples of initiatives to change policy, using social media, one from India and the other from a small town in New Zealand:

• IndiaPoised was a six-week initiative in 2007 sponsored by The Times of India newspaper "to pry open areas of public governance, infrastructure, health, business and economy, environment, social sector, and culture, among others…"  Lesson number one. Scope your cause! In their Citizen’s Charter, there’s a dizzying array of things the initiative is designed to influence. Too many to keep up with and instead of focus, the audience is left with confusion. This effort shows that use of social media is not enough–the cause needs to be specific and focused.

Tamahere Forum is an ongoing forum for "sharing and discussing the community’s news, issues, and events." This is a town of 4,000 people in New Zealand.  The forum was started in response to a fire and explosion at a local business in April 2008 that killed at least one firefighter. The townspeople are now fighting to keep the business from re-building on the same site. Notice the use of video, individual stories ("Firefighter Merv Neil Fights On"), and photographs to make this issue come alive. It’s compelling. Lesson number two. Make it personal.

This latter example shows the possibility for bottom-up change to influence public policy. It’s a gem that illustrates the power of community in action.